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NFL Referee Bill Leavy Should Never Officiate Again

01-16-2012, 04:30 AM

Congratulations to the New York Football Giants for defeating the
Green Bay Packers to advance to the NFC Championship Game in San
Francisco next week. It was a fantastic win, and New York QB Eli Manning
once again proved that he must assuredly is an “elite quarterback.” (He
is 2-0 vs. Aaron Rodgers in the postseason) But what I really want to
talk about here is my rage over the horrendous, embarrassing officiating
during today’s game at Lambeau Field, in Green Bay, Wisc. It was so bad
that I thought I was watching an NBA game. This was a really tough win
for Big Blue.

It could not have been more obvious that the
officiating crew was trying to protect the defending Super Bowl
champions and the league’s golden boy, Aaron Rodgers – even at the cost
of tarnishing the perception of NFL officiating and the credibility of
the league itself. We all know that so-called “good teams” get all the
breaks when it comes to close calls, and that’s to be expected. However,
there’s a world of difference between giving a team a few extra inches
on a spot and completely making stuff up out of whole cloth. This isn’t
just letting a cornerback get away with some hand jive; it’s calling
stuff that isn’t there, and pretending stuff that is, isn’t.

The
first example came in the second quarter, when the Packers’ Greg
Jennings fumbled the ball and the Giants recovered. Except that it
didn’t play out that way: During the commercial break, the call on the
field was overruled by another official, forcing the Giants to challenge
the non-fumble call. Although replays from multiple angles clearly
showed Jennings losing possession of the ball before his knee, elbow or
butt hit the ground, referee Bill Leavy inexplicably decided that
replays showed Jennings’ knee hitting the ground before the ball was
ripped loose – despite the fact that Jennings’ knees ended up pointed
toward the shy, and his butt hit the ground first! It was a travesty of
the first order. Maybe Leavy was watching cartoons under that hood.

No
one hates the Giants more than the Fox broadcasting team of Joe Buck
and Troy Aikman, so when those guys say the Giants got jobbed, you know
the Jints were scre wed over! Even Mike Pereira, the former league
official who advises Fox on officiating matters and usually comes up
with some way to justify any and all bogus calls against the Giants,
shook his head in disbelief at the bizarre ruling. The call itself was
an outrage, but then the Pack added insult to the injury by going on to
score a touchdown.

Shamefully, the embarrassing performances from the officials continued.

In
the second half, it appeared that the officials decided to try to help
the Packers get back in the game by whistling the Giants’ Osi Umenyiora
for roughing the passer with a blow to the head – which, of course, he
didn’t do. Replays showed that as he was falling to the ground, rag doll
Rodgers bumped his head against another player. Not Osi’s fault!
Rodgers had overthrown his receiver, so it would have been fourth down,
forcing Green Bay to punt. Instead, they got a new set of downs, and,
once again, the officials’ gift resulted in another unearned, undeserved
Packers touchdown.

If you take away the 14 points manufactured by
the officials and gifted to the Packers, the Giants’ defense actually
only gave up six points to the high-powered, much-vaunted, formerly
perfect-at-home Pack. What a shame that 20 points will be officially
charged against the Jints.

Still, no matter how much the officials
wanted to protect the league darlings, no amount of officiating help
could overcome eight dropped passes and three lost fumbles – although we
all know the real number of lost fumbles was four.

If I were a
Packers fan, I would be embarrassed by the performance of my team and
the officials. But, on the brighter side, Rodgers will have more time to
make “Discount Double-Check” commercials.

In summation, I wish I
could I dismiss these bad calls as ineptitude, as incompetence, as human
error; but these calls were so bad, so blatant, so obvious, so
black-and-white, that it’s hard not to question the motives behind them.
I would love to hear Bill Leavy try to defend his work and the
performance of his crew. Or, should I say, try to excuse it.

Bill
Leavy is the NFL referee who admitted to blowing a call in the 2006
Superbowl that cost the Seattle Seahawks the game. Yesterday in Green
Bay, Leavy didn’t just blow one call, he blew three, and all were
against the New York Giants. Bill Leavy should never officiate another
NFL game. The league has to step up and fire this man immediately.

The
first call that Leavy got wrong today was the worst. After video replay
clearly showed Packer wide receiver Greg Jennings fumble the ball
before his knee hit the ground. Leavy came back, after looking at the
play under the hood and awarded the ball to Green Bay saying the player
was down before the ball came out.

Troy Aikman and Joe Buck both
adamantly disagreed with Leavy and the NFL officiating expert in the Fox
studio also said that Leavy blew the call. The call extended the
Packers drive which ended in a touchdown for Green Bay.

The next
play that leavy made a judgement call on was a personal foul on Giant
defensive end Osi Umenyora for hitting Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers
in the head as Rodgers released the ball. Replay after replay showed
that Osi hit Rodgers in the shoulder area, never coming near the QB’s
head. That drive was also extended and the Packers scored again.

The
last horrible call was a ball spot on a third down play near mid field.
DJ Ware clearly had the first down and Leavy put the ball at where the
running backs ankles hit the turf. How often does it happen in an NFL
game where there are three bad calls and it is all by the same official?

Bill
Leavy should be let go immediately and never be allowed to officiate
another NFL game. Also Bill Leavy should be investigated for possibly
violating NFL rules on gambling. It was quite clear today that the
referee had an agenda and did everything in his power to give Green Bay
the win.

Bill
Leavy is the NFL referee who admitted to blowing a call in the 2006
Superbowl that cost the Seattle Seahawks the game. Yesterday in Green
Bay, Leavy didn’t just blow one call, he blew three, and all were
against the New York Giants. Bill Leavy should never officiate another
NFL game. The league has to step up and fire this man immediately.

The
first call that Leavy got wrong today was the worst. After video replay
clearly showed Packer wide receiver Greg Jennings fumble the ball
before his knee hit the ground. Leavy came back, after looking at the
play under the hood and awarded the ball to Green Bay saying the player
was down before the ball came out.

Troy Aikman and Joe Buck both
adamantly disagreed with Leavy and the NFL officiating expert in the Fox
studio also said that Leavy blew the call. The call extended the
Packers drive which ended in a touchdown for Green Bay.

The next
play that leavy made a judgement call on was a personal foul on Giant
defensive end Osi Umenyora for hitting Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers
in the head as Rodgers released the ball. Replay after replay showed
that Osi hit Rodgers in the shoulder area, never coming near the QB’s
head. That drive was also extended and the Packers scored again.

The
last horrible call was a ball spot on a third down play near mid field.
DJ Ware clearly had the first down and Leavy put the ball at where the
running backs ankles hit the turf. How often does it happen in an NFL
game where there are three bad calls and it is all by the same official?

Bill
Leavy should be let go immediately and never be allowed to officiate
another NFL game. Also Bill Leavy should be investigated for possibly
violating NFL rules on gambling. It was quite clear today that the
referee had an agenda and did everything in his power to give Green Bay
the win.

Comment

It’s a good thing the Giants were so dominating in their 37-20 victory over the Packers Sunday or the alleged officiating would have been another stain on the National Football League shield.

Often on disputed calls, the voices — and the video replays — provide contradictory evidence. Not this time around.

It started late in the second quarter when Aaron Rodgers hit Gregg Jennings with a pass in Giants territory. As the Packers’ wideout fell to the ground, the ball came out and was recovered by Giants safety Kenny Phillips. The officials (Bill Leavy was the head zeeb) ruled that Jennings’ knee had hit the ground before the ball popped out.

“It looked like the ball was out before the knee was down,” Fox’s Joe Buck said before even seeing the replay. Troy Aikman agreed. On the radio side, both Bob Papa and Carl Banks concurred. The replays confirmed their contentions.

Tom Coughlin challenged the ruling. More replays aired, including an ultra-conclusive piece of evidence showing the ball had come loose before any part of Jennings body hit the ground. Yet, after going under the hood, Leavy said the ruling on the field was correct.

Buck: “Tom Coughlin can’t believe it. I can’t either.”

Aikman: “I can’t, either.”

Papa: “What the hell ...?”

The Foxies brought in Mike Pereira, their rules analyst, who started jiving about it being a judgment call, but quickly did an about-face and went definitive. “If I were under the hood I would’ve reversed it,” said Pereira.

On the halftime show, Howie Long cracked open another can of controversy. He wondered if the officials even got to see the smoking gun video.

Was Long suggesting certain replay angles are purposely withheld?

Would anyone be surprised if a “mistake” like that could happen?

The other call came with the Giants up 30-13 and just over six minutes left. The Packers were facing a third-and-10 from their own 25. Rodgers threw incomplete, but Osi Umenyiora was penalized for roughing the passer — “a blow to the head” — with 6:18 left in the fourth.
Fox’s replays showed no blow.

“That was a bad, bad call,” Aikman said. Rodgers took the Packers on a scoring drive to make it 30-20. Green Bay then attempted an onsides kick that the Giants recovered. If they didn’t, the call on Umenyiora could have loomed large.

When stuff like this happens before a huge national TV audience, the credibility of the league, and the integrity of the game, becomes an issue. Especially when broadcasters are forced to spend so much time discussing blown calls.

Comment

I agree with your ref rant but I think Eli is 1 - 0 vs Rodgers in playoffs.

Impossible to understand how the ref could get the fumble call wrong. The Osi call, while inexcusable, wasn't a call that could be reviewed so, maybe he thought he saw something different from a poor angle. Who knows? They did seem to happen at very big parts of the game and are very suspicious.

Comment

I'm reading all these articles out in the news today and they are calling them "controversial". I don't see how there is any controversy in those calls. They were flat out wrong and bad. I am all for investigating some of these officials. The fact that they aren't is pretty disheartening.

Comment

Macktic you forgot to mention the two clear roughing the passer calls that were missed by the officials. Eli was hit so freaking late, one which was a helmet to helmet and the officiating crew didn't even think about calling it roughing the passer. And we all know the BS roughing the passer call that Osi had called on him. Any who we're going to SAN FRAN BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment

[quote user="Dane1785"]Macktic you forgot to mention the two clear roughing the passer calls that were missed by the officials. Eli was hit so freaking late, one which was a helmet to helmet and the officiating crew didn't even think about calling it roughing the passer. And we all know the BS roughing the passer call that Osi had called on him. Any who we're going to SAN FRAN BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]